Danika woke up feeling confused when her alarm went off earlier than normal, and then she realized what day it was. She had her laundry collected and herself dressed and bundled up in warm winter clothes, and was waiting at the curb by the time the truck arrived at the loading zone.
It had been a few weeks now since she'd shown up in her pajamas, but the sting of remembered embarrassment renewed itself every time she saw the driver's grin. She tried to tell herself that it was probably meant to be a friendly expression, and that either way his opinion of her shouldn't matter. But she was still embarrassed.
She slid back onto the warm floor of her room when she returned with a sigh of relief. After completing the rest of her morning chores and exercises, she started her shift. The horrible quest the accounts were stuck in was becoming a monotonous routine despite its difficulty and she kept "Living Jade Empire" open on her phone again and continued to practice ZipZing's skills on the side.
Now that she had over 800 Karma from the Balancing, she didn't have to worry about her increasing skills making her unable to revive anymore. She couldn't figure out how to raise her Poise, one of the skills from the Way of the Cat, but she managed to raise several of the other skills that she hadn't used very often, like her Binding String. She also practiced with the ring that contained the Shape cantrip, which she'd eventually taken to wearing on her tail. Her accumulated level reached 70 by the time her shift ended. Aishin's accumulated level was 182 now, and Shrubbery was up to 62.
Shrubbery replied to her question about the poisonous Datura seed in time for Danika to read about it while she ate her lunch. Shrubbery thought that it should be safe enough, but said that the simplest thing would be for her to look at fruit grown beside the dark flowers before anyone tried eating it. She said that she'd bring seeds from her own garden with her the next time they met up, but that she was still really busy, because now that her mother was home again both parents were insisting that she return to school and get caught up there.
Danika thought about it for a long time before writing her reply, and finally wrote: "Thank you! I can only imagine how exhausted you must get. I know I complained about school the entire time, but I like the independence I have now? And you probably don't need me to tell you how much it sounds like they love you, right?"
She received a short reply a few minutes later: "Yeah, but being reminded doesn't hurt."
When Danika pulled herself over the edge of the VR-medi pod that night, she realized for the first time that the dragon on her sticker was similar in color to ZipZing and wondered if she'd unconsciously chosen it for the similarity. It was a much scalier and more bewhiskered dragon though. She chuckled to herself as she completed the connections and wondered if dragon whiskers were available appearance modifiers, not that she intended to pay money just to have more elegant whiskers.
Kit wasn't online yet when Danika returned to the forest beside the tree where she'd hidden her pebble from the monkey. She looked around warily, but didn't spot any monkeys at the moment, although there were several birds and a butterfly in sight. She withdrew her pebble and entered her new garden.
The morning view of Logical Heart's reflecting pool was an enchantingly misty scene and her soil circle was lit with cool morning light while retaining its usual steady temperature. Danika withdrew her aqua stone and watered her moonflowers and her little apple tree.
Kit logged in a few minutes later and Danika exited her garden and stowed her pebble. She activated her wings and flew up behind Kit who gasped and spun around when Danika said, "Good morning? I saw a monkey here yesterday."
Kit held her hand over her heart and replied nervously, "Oh, that's great! Except that I need to go meet up with The Travelling Merchant. He sent me a message that said he feels diminished."
Danika asked, "Do you know where to meet him?"
Kit held up her hand and said shyly, "I just need to follow the brightest string coming off of my ring."
Danika couldn't see any strings, but assumed that they were like the menu screens and only visible to their user. She flew higher and looked around for landmarks, and then called down to Kit, "I think it shouldn't be too hard to find this hill again, there's a little village over there. So if we use that taller mountain, and the river as the other two points of a triangle, I think I can find it again.
Danika half expected Kit to head for the village or back to the town they'd come from, but Kit transformed into her hawk shape and flew without any hesitation higher into the foothills. The traveling merchant waited in the small square of an extremely elaborate miniature town built into and around a rather spectacular waterfall.
Dozens of water wheels spun under the falls, and the little town hummed with the sounds of what Danika could only describe as machinery. Gnomes went about their business with only interested glances toward the small town square. Kit returned to her human shape as soon as she landed and the traveling merchant held out his hands in a welcoming gesture. Kit blushed as he leaned in and dropped a quick kiss on her lips after she took his hands.
Danika quickly directed her gaze at the interesting water wheel system, and tried to follow the intricate tangle of geared shafts that carried the force generated by the water into various little buildings both close to, and a surprising distance away from the falls. Most of her attention was on the conversation behind her though.
"You said you feel diminished?" Kit asked worriedly.
Danika thought, 'Of course he does, many of his stats were lowered.' Many games had pets that would report changes in their character sheets with such phrases, but it seemed likely that Kit hadn't played many.
The traveling merchant said cheerfully, "Don't worry Kit my love, I am well and none of the abilities that were diminished were critical skills. How are you today? I've missed you."
Kit replied shyly, "I'm ok. I'm glad I get to see you every day."
The merchant replied questioningly, "But I haven't seen you in several days?"
Kit asked, "What?"
Danika stopped staring at the water wheels and reminded Kit, "It's four days in game for each day?"
"Oh, right," Kit replied.
Danika added, "Your friendship level gets reduced each game day, but it should be ok, since you had the same play schedule before, right?"
Kit clung more tightly to the traveling merchant's hands and asked him worriedly, "Do you feel like your affection for me is one of the things that has been reduced?"
The traveling merchant smiled at her and said affectionately, "My love for you is increasing at the moment, it had diminished only by a natural amount."
Kit looked at him with a worried expression. "Ok," she replied uncertainly.
Danika suddenly felt very lucky that her familiar wasn't going to be an NPC. "Can you run the mobile version of the game? You could interact with him outside of your VR schedule through that too," Danika suggested.
Kit frowned and replied, "I don't know. I'll ask."
Danika said, "Um, let me know when you're done talking, because I want to see if I can buy a few seeds and stuff before we go back to searching for the monkeys."
Kit blushed again, and replied quickly, "Oh, you can go ahead now. I didn't realize that I was preventing you from making transactions."
Danika glanced at their joined hands and then admitted, "I don't know that you are, it just seems impolite?" She asked the traveling merchant, "Do you have any edible plant seeds that I could buy for only 2 coins and do you have any suggestions on what we might encounter in this area that would be profitable to collect?"
The traveling merchant replied cheerfully, "I'm busy at the moment, but I can help you with those things when I'm finished." He smiled fondly at Kit.
Kit gazed at him and her blush deepened.
Danika rolled her eyes and said, "I'll come back in a few minutes, take your time, but don't let him leave before at least finding out his answer?"
"Ok," Kit agreed shyly, without looking away from the traveling merchant's friendly face.